Didn't know there were so many experts here but at the same time people who hadn't thought about any of this logically.
If the governments and media said nothing, absolutely nothing, and you catch it? What then? You might be unlucky as you value cleanliness. I guarantee you that a lot of people don't bother about that sort of thing. But anyway. Who knows maybe they've listened to the advice and it will minimalize the spread (anything wrong with that btw?)
So what happens when you get quite ill. Flu. Ordinarily I wouldn't bother going to the doctors as I don't want to be a burden, but flu can be mild or quite nasty to the point where you may want to seek help. These days I have a flu jab as it's advised to if you are asthmatic. But let's say they haven't made one of those yet. What if you also have a small bit of doubt and you think you may have this virus, that it's relatively new and we don't exactly know the ins and outs of it (how do we know it doesn't effect other parts of your system long term, or worse if you are a child?) What happens when you turn up and find out because no one in the media, or the governments or people in healthcare warned you about this virus and you find out there are hundreds of people also waiting to be seen at the doctors or the hospitals because the virus easily spread? What happens then? I tell you what happens. You'll be the first to moan at the already battered NHS (largely thanks to Boris and his predecessors) about not being seen on time. The absolute nerve. Who knows what will happen then because i'm fairly sure that at the moment survival rates are partly because patients are getting seen to and looked after. If too many people get it then we will get needless deaths. I know many of the deaths have been linked with old people who already have an underlying illness, but come on! Surely in that case you wouldn't want to die from "flu" that could have at least been contained until a vaccination is found.
I work on a league that's been effected the most. It's crazy and there's a lot of doubt and uncertainty, it's madness but it's unprecedented. Hopefully it is over the top and it probably is, but surely it's better to be over the top than to underplay it? Surely it's better if LESS people get it, especially a massive group of people all at once before a vaccination is available?
